Trials of a Guardian
by Kumeko13
Summary: In the heart of the Great War two samurai find themselves in the mist of the chaos, both working their way up the ranks. Kambei Shimada and Kumeko Suteki, two lovers facing the blood shed of war by each other's side. Info on "The Choice" inside
1. Chapter 1

_Well if you read The Choice or A Sisters Guidance then you know I'm big on the Kambei thing… heh. But, I am not a writer as I have said many times before, but I love this story. It tells more about Kumeko… if you were wondering just who the hell she was. And how the heck she even got into a fanfic (you can thank my mind for her heh). It not only tells Kumeko and Kambei's story, but also the story of the time they spent in the war and how they worked their way up the ranks. So that's as much as I shall give away…_

_And for those who read the choice information on that story will be at the end of the chapter_

_Enjoy and review please!_

Chapter one

_"In this era, the gift of life meant nothing without the glory of death."_

...

This was a time when life itself held no meaning and death was all the salvation that man needed. Indeed man no longer wanted to live life fully; rather he wished to experience death and all her beauty. He sought this over the beauty of the world... that is if the world still held beauty, the years of chaos throw the world into darkness.

And in the center of all that chaos, warriors and their leaders, the men willing to die and the men willing to allow them to perish for such a useless and unending war.

To the southeast, past the lines of enemy territory, the night took its place. The moon was nowhere to be found in the darkness, only twinkling stars that danced and showered over the land. Large dead oak trees cluttered the vast valley. Burnt to a crisp each tree had the familiar scent of blood and oil. No bout that a battle had taken place here but a few days before. And just beyond the stench of blood and ash, the gentle salt waters of the churning sea crashed against the cliffs. She gently sang the song of the fallen, and slashed tears of sadness for the dread of the amount of life that was lost. This was the battle of the fallen, no rather the battle for the fallen. The pro-log of what was to come.

* * *

"I can't stand this!" a group of men were gathered around a small fire under the cloak of darkness. Each wore a dry green uniform, "Hey, don't you, any of you, think this is crazy?" one member of the six man group said while gripping the gray handle of his katana.

"Sit back down Kazenoshi." Kazenoshi turned his head toward the voice that called his name.

"What the hell do you know boy?" Anger replaced questioning. "You're just a boy! Don't think you know what you're taking about! You think you're the best, don't you Kambei-Kun!?" he pointed at the black figure that rested on a dead tree, away from the group.

Shimada chuckled. "Well, no. I'm not." he confessed with a smile on his face.

Kazenoshi growled. "If not you, than who?" Kambei's smile grew larger and he opened his eyes and looked at the men in front of him, then his gray eyes trailed toward the other three next to the fire place.

"Shiro, Hihaku, Massaki, do you know?" all three men were puzzled. "Who is the strongest in our group?" well of course they knew who that was, they also knew that Kazenoshi should just shut up before he got them all in trouble.

"Dammit Kambei, don't play games with me!" His hands went for his sword at his waist. But from behind, an ominous aura flared behind Kazenoshi.

"I highly bout he is playing games Kazenoshi-Dono…" Each man raced to their feet.

"WELCOME BACK KUMEKO-SAMA!"

**-Whack-Whack-Whack-WHACK!-**

"Baka yaru." All four samurai were at the mercy of the woman that hovered over their limped bodies. "Honestly you really are idiots. We're in enemy territory, don't salute me here. " After her quarrel with the others she walked toward Kambei, who was sited nicely on his spot on the tree. "Any news from the front?" she asked.

Kambei shucked his head. "I got nothing." He said and continued. "Seen their backed up with everything these days, the war is at a stand-still."

Kumeko nodded her head in agreement. "These days, everything involves conflict, wheatear it be the samurai and their swords or the Merchants and their money or even the peasants and their rice… everyone is fighting for something."

"That's true; there is no way to void what is happening in this era." Shiro got up and walked over to the fire as he listened to Hihaku. "We fight, in the hope to preserve what little peace that is left." For a moment they all fell silent.

Massaki got up and walked over to Kazenoshi who was sitting on the ground where Kumeko had left them. With a gentle tap on the shoulders he brought the said man back to his senses.

Kazenoshi shuck his head lightly and got to his feet as well and moved his hand from the sword at his hip. "Seems the war has finally taken its' toll on me." He declared silently, as he looked over at their two captains. "what about you two? Must be hard work being lowly captains."

Thought it sounded like an insult, Kambei and Kumeko smiled. Just to know that they even held the title of captains, even if it was just for a small ambush area of the enemy grounds, made them feel at ease.

Soon loud noises clapped from the east and the west. Large balls of fire flared against the brilliance of the night, for the moon was not in the sky, giving the fires the perfect scenery to shine against the stars. Everyone watched the beautiful chaos that the war brought their way. The only question was… who was winning? Was it them or the imperial army? And if it was them, there was an even more daring question to be asked… how long could they keep fighting like this? The war had to come to an end sometimes, it was just a matter of when and who.

"Eh, what else do you expect from Roy and Amara?" Kazenoshi broke the silent as he fell to the ground next to the fire. "But," he paused, because he knew that the next thing we was going to say was all to true. "if we have any hope of winning this war, we're going to need more than those two."

Kumeko looked at Kambei. His eyes were lock to the east, and she knew exactly way. The man in charge of the eastern boundaries was none other than Roy Kiraku. The man Kambei held to the highest of standards, aside from their sensei, Roy was one of the few Kambei wanted to spare with. To clash blades with that man was an honor Kambei always thought of.

As for her she felt the same, taking her eyes from Kambei, she too looked toward the west. There, unlike the east, all the fighting took place in the skies. Airships crashed and burned, falling from the skies like stars falling from heaven. There Amara Kakuredzuki was the commander, a woman. She was an elite assassin before the start of the war, both her and her husband, who was now her second in command. Kumeko wanted nothing more than to fight side by side with the woman who led her to the war, her inspiration.

"The day will come,"

"huh?" Kumeko looked at the man on the tree.

"The day will come when they will call us commanders." Was his reply as he got up and walked over to the near ridge. Looking down and watching the ocean as its waves clashed with the wall of the cliff. Kambei allowed the ocean to spray his body, after all it had been quite a while since he had seen the sea. Thought he wish he had more time. after all he now he had to be on guard at all time… and he was right.

"huh?!" in one quick movement, Kazenoshi Graded the water jug from his pack and poured the water onto the fire and kick sand on top of it. "Hide!"

Kambei and Kumeko raced behind a nearby tree, followed by the others that did that same. Each samurai grad a hold of their swords as one minazuki entered the camp grounds with three more behind it.

"what do you think?" one of them asked.

"we'll head back and report this to Tsutomu-sama."

Another poked at the fire. "It's fresh, looks like they put it out with water and booked it out of here." He said. "That's not much to report."

"Neither the less we have to get this information back to headquarters." The rest nodded and turned to head out.

"Huh? You're a bunch of idiots alright; no wonder we're taking control of this war. I didn't know that the imperial army was full of idiots."

All four Minazuki turned toward the voice that mocked them. "And who the hell are you?!" they demanded.

Kumeko's face grew a wicked smile. "The last face you'll ever see."

"What?!" and just then, Kambei, Kazenoshi, Massaki, and Shiro beheaded each enemy with a single swing of their swords.

"Well that was easy."

"Easy you say? You mean just as easy as it was for them to find us!?" Kazenoshi barked at Shiro.

"I WAS COLD I NEED A FIRE!" Shiro ducked and hind behind his arms.

Massaki sighed and watched Kambei and Kumeko as they walked toward the cliff side. "…" at the time it didn't really bother him… not until Kambei came back, alone. "huh? Where is Kumeko-sama?" all four looked at their captain but all they got was a loud sigh. They know right then and there where she had gone.

"YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"

…

Meanwhile inside the enemy camp, the one known as Tsutomu, a large Nobuseri, was surrounded by foot soldiers, both human and machine alike.

One of the human samurai knelt down before Tsutomu. "Tsutomu-Sama!" he paused. "we have not received our report the scoots we sent out!"

The entire base whispered to one another. "Do you think it's those samurai we faced back at Fuma falls?" one of the men asked.

"you mean the ones we encountered a few days ago?" another replied.

"Yeah them, I'm not sure but I think they could of survived the fall." Everyone stated to question the survival of the samurai.

"Ha! Yeah right, the have a woman with them I'm pretty sure she's the one slowing them down right about now! Unless one of their men can't handle the cold."

* * *

"Ahh-Chooo!"

"hey you ok there Shiro-dono?"

"(sniff) yeah I'm fine, thanks for asking Massaki. I think someone's just bad mouthing about me."

"Wouldn't be the first time." joked Kazenoshi.

* * *

Tsutomu shook with anger. Even the slightest thought of woman set his heart on fire… how he wanted to tear her to pieces.

"Huh. Well when you put it like that you have a point."

"Yeah she's probably at the bottom of the falls." All the men chuckled at the thought. But not Tsutomu, he knew better. There was no way in hell that woman was at the bottom of those falls, and he knew it.

"ENOUGH!" he shirked aloud. "Are you all fools?!" he yelled, "Think about it for a single second. That wench took my arm! Remember?!" everyone fell silent, shaken but Tsutomu's outburst. "I want you to find them, and I want you to bring me that woman. I want to rip her apart myself!"

"YES SIR!" all those in his command straightened themselves and separated into groups of ten.

Tsutomu sat back down, calming himself so his arm could be repaired by the mechanic. He sat thinking of what he was going to do to that woman. Would he rip her limb from limb without mercy? Or was he going to slowly tear her apart, allowing her to beg for remorse and forgiveness? The seconded one seemed more fitting for him, yes he was going to enjoy the moment.

_TBC…._

* * *

_Ok there is chapter one of Trials of a guardian. The entry to Hearts bond only to the swords… which I have yet to write. I am blocked at some part because MY ONEE-CHAN! And I'm not going to name names, is still working on her character Audiro, Kumeko's younger sister. Until Onee-chan has finished that and gives me a better understanding of Audiro's Character I will start on that story until then enjoy kambeixKumeko for the time being._

_Review please ^-^ _

…

_Info. The Choice._

_Well so far the story is at a standstill over the summer I was able to make it to chapter 17 before getting suck __ yup. But I am rewriting it and to be honest it does sound a heck of a lot better, I guess that's how it is when you get to write it with no one pressuring you. Heh… sorry onee-san ^^' don't kill me! But yes for now I will keep the chapters up until I finish typing out the new ones. And the chapters will be longer for more reading and more details._

_Characters_

_Settings_

_You name it everything will be more detailed for you._


	2. Chapter 2

_Thank you to those who have read chapter one, here is chapter two :3 enjoy_

…

Chapter Two

"_Followed by withered ash, ghost of the fallen past seek refuge in the empty hearts of men."_

…

"So what do we do now Kambei-kun?" Hihaku asked as the group came to a stop.

"(Gasp) we have been running for hours. Let's take a break boy!" Kazenoshi was out of breath; his older body was unable to carry him as far as it once did in the pas of his youth. "This old man can't go much farther." He declared

"(Sigh) Alright we'll rest here for now." Kambei watched as his men found a placed to rest. Shiro didn't care he just fell to the ground and slept. Shiro was of course the weakest of the group but the said man was skilled at one thing that the others had little to no experience and Kambei valued that.

Massaki, like Kambei, took his time to find a good place to rest. He walked over to a dead oak tree, taking off the top of his uniform and throw it were he was going to lay. He wasn't planning to sleep like the others. Besides when Kumeko is away he and Kambei are in charge, so the two stayed on alert, surely running a few miles wouldn't keep their enemies at bay for long.

…

While the others slept, Kumeko wondered back towards Fuma Falls. Miles from the others Kumeko knew to be careful, she was far beyond enemy territory after all. Shifting through the ash and blood soaked oak trees, she arrived at small hill. Caution began wearing down on her, she made sure every step she took would allow her to take easy refuge if needed.

Luckily she was right. Because just over the hill two young men, dressed in the imperial uniform walked over the hill. Without them seeing her she managed to hide behind one of the oak trees.

"Come on Nii-san let's find those samurai that disrespected us!" the older was most likely seven-teen or even eight-teen give or take. Long black back hair and dark blue eyes, he walked side by side another he had called his brother. He was arrogant, Kumeko could tell from the mere sound of his over excited voice.

"Oh man, I bet Tsutomu-sama will give us a promotion!" the other was quite young, indeed perhaps fifth-teen, he too had black hair thought it was cut short. The two continued on their way, without ever knowing that Kumeko was right behind the tree they had just past. It would have been all too easy for her to kill them right then and there, but what fun would that be? Besides she had more important matters that needed her attention, so she continued on her way knowing full well who those boys were talking about.

"My, my, what has Shimada-kun got himself into this time?" she joked before she too vanished into the snow like ash.

…

"ahh…" Shiro was the first to wake. "huh!? WH-"

"Shut up you baka!" Hihaku covered Shiro's mouth and pinned him to the ground.

"We over slept!" Shiro whispered back.

"Yeah I know, but keep quite." He got up and started to wake everyone else up quietly.

"Crap," Kazenoshi rubbed the back of his head and looked toward the east. The sun was coming up and they hadn't moved in hours, their enemies could be right behind them for all they know. "Come on let's get a move on." He helped Massaki up and made sure his sword was secured at his hip.

Massaki looked over to ridge and saw Kambei, who was looking around watching everything like a hawk, he knew that the enemy could be close by and the only thing he could do was keep look out. Massaki walked over and knelt down to the same level to Kambei. "You ready?" he got no answer from his Captain. With a sigh Massaki sat down next to Kambei. "She'll be fine on her own, you of all people should know that."

Kambei smiled as sad smile. "Yeah… I know." He pauses and chuckled.

"Huh?" Massaki looked at his captain.

"It's the poor fools that are following us that I'm worried about."

Massaki smiled wickedly. "Yeah… me too."

At that moment they two shared that smile and dashed toward the tree line where Shiro sat. Causing the younger man to ducked for the ground in panic just in time for their swords to hover over his head and slice through two trees in a single swing.

Shiro had his back on the ground, still a bit dazed from the fact that his head could have been feet's from his body if he hadn't seen Kambei and Massaki coming. "ah… ah… ah…?"

Massaki turned to see if they hadn't beheaded their comrade. "You ok there Shiro-dono?"

"WHAT THE HELL!? WARNING NEXT TIME!?"

"yup he's ok…" Kazenoshi joked as he patted Shiro on the head, as the poor samurai shed tears of relief.

"HONESTLY YOU TWO SHOULD STOP BEING SO-…" He cut himself off as he looked underneath the branches of the dead trees. "eh?"

Hihaku walked closer, taking his place next to Kambei and Massaki. "Spies from the Imperial Arm?" he questioned.

"No their too young to be simple spies, and if they were we wouldn't have captured them so easily." Kambei replied. "Most likely they wondered on their own and stumbled across us."

"Ha! Rookie mistake boys, don't you remember what we did to your leader a few days ago? Just imagine what we could do to you two right now, and it won't be pleasant." Kazenoshi laughed.

"No please don't we didn't even know you were here!" one of the boys yelled back in panic.

"Shut up Takeshi!" the other snapped.

"Please I don't want to die Nii-Nii!"

"Nii-Nii?" Shiro walked over to the boys. "So you're brothers, which one it older if it's in my pardon to even ask."

"Nii-Nii is sir." To boy looked at his brother. Who looked away when Shiro tried to make eye contacted.

The rest of the group walked away, leaving their comrade to deal with the kids. At the rim of the ridge they looked down at the waves crashing along the cliff side. Hihaku was the first to break the silence "So what do we do about them Kambei?"

"(Hmph) you know as well as I that he is going to let those brats go."

"perhaps he will Kazenoshi-dono but he won't do it without a plan first, right Kambei?" Massaki looked at their captain.

"yeah right the one who comes up with those plans is Kume-chan and she's not here right now." Kazenoshi barked back.

The two argued on until Kambei began to chuckle. "well you're right about the fact the Kumeko is always the one to come up with those plans, although," he paused "It doesn't mean we can't use any of them. And maybe improvise them if needed."

Massaki and Kazenoshi smiled and chuckled to the idea. Hihaku on the other hand tried to think of a way to make Kumeko's plan fit together. "hmm…" try as he might he couldn't even come up with a single way to place them. "Kambei what is this so called idea of yours?"

Their captain smiled.

…

Kazenoshi was patting Kambei on the back as he laughed as hard as he could. "well you are getting better at this kambei-kun!"

Hihaku and Massaki chuckled along with Kazenoshi. "yeah no bout about it."

Massaki wiped a tear from one of his eyes. "true true true, but you still got a ways to go before coming up with something to match kume-chan's ideas."

Even Kambei laughed along with the others "(sigh) Got to live that woman no matter how scary she can be." The four laughed together for a little longer before turning back to check on Shiro and the two boys.

"EH?!" what the saw was something they didn't expect to see.

"Ow! Hey that's my hair you're pulling!" Shiro had his hands gripping the back of head trying to save his scalp from the older boys who's teeth was yanking his sliver hair.

"Tomi nii-san stop your going to get us in trouble!" Takeshi tried to get his brother off of the other samurai.

"oh boy…"Kazenoshi shocked his head. "anyone going to help the poor guy?" he looked to his left, Kambei and Massaki looked away while mumbling something. Then to his left seeing that Hihaku was already looking away from him. "(sigh) well don't everyone jump up at once." He took out his katana and walked over to his Comrade, and sliced off his tony-tail in one quick movement. "Seriously, can't you do anything by yourself?" he questioned before taking a step back.

"m-my hair…" Shiro looked down at Tomi who still had the remaining pieces of his hair within his mouth. The others walked over each hovering over the two Imperial soldiers.

"Now then, shall we?" Hihaku asked forgetting about Shiro and knelling down next to the boys. "What do you say we play a little game kiddos."

Tomi growled at the thought of their question. "what are you planning to do? Take my brother and try to use him against me?! Cause that won't work!"

"hmm, yup they'll do the job just fine but first-" he looked at the shocked/newly haired Shiro.

"first we need our engineer back in tip top shape." Kambei ended Massaki's sentence as Kazenoshi walked away.

"damn that old fool, taking things into his own hands." Hihaku complained even thought it was all their fault for not stepping in in the first place.

"well you cant blame his the old man never liked Shiro-san's long hair to start with. Guess you can say he finally got his wish to chop it off." Massaki held back a laugh.

For the moment they stood there thinking of how they were going to get Shiro back on his feet. But not far away Tsutomu, with a newly repaired arm thirst for revenge on the samurai.

TBC

…


End file.
